A Mahler Masterwork Played Masterfully by the Chicago Symphony Orches…

Guest conductor Jakub Hrůša leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 9. (Todd Rosenberg)

If one needs any proof that calamity, whether personal and/or political, also has the power to inspire great works of art, Gustav Mahler’s “Symphony No. 9 in D Major” can easily serve as a prime example. 

And on Thursday evening, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s intense and fiercely beautiful performance of his wildly demanding four movement, 90-minute masterwork provided that proof, with guest conductor Jakub Hrůša forcefully leading the monumental work.

In an ideally multifaceted pre-concert talk about this symphony, violist Max Raimi noted the many aspects of Mahler’s life that unfolded between 1909 and 1910, as he composed this work just a year before his death at the age of 50. It would be his last fully completed symphony. 

It was also created at a time of growing antisemitism that in 1897 led Mahler, the Jewish-born,…